Opening, Lecture, reading, talk

Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman

Name: Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman
Start: 2025-04-09T18:30:00+02:00
End: 2025-04-09T20:45:00+02:00
Location: Berlin Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum

Berlin Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum

Margitta Steinbach at the Memorial in Tiergarten

An Evening Dedicated to Erna Lauenburger: Musical Reading and Discussion

Prices
Regular: free of charge

Price info

Please book a free ticket in advance online or on-site at the ticket counters in the Humboldt Forum.

Location
Room War in the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition as well as in the Berlin Hall, Room 5 | 1st Floor

Event

Duration
2h 15min

Erna Lauenburger (1920-1943), a Sintiza from Berlin, became known by the name Unku. In 1931, the youth book “Ede and Unku” by the author Alex Wedding (1905-1966) was published. The story is set in the working-class milieu of Berlin and addresses poverty and labour struggles in the Weimar Republic. At the heart of the story is the friendship between the two titular children.

In collaboration with descendants of Erna Lauenburger, Margitta and Manolito Steinbach from the association Menda Yek e.V. and the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, as well as the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, the Stadtmuseum Berlin has expanded the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition to include the biography of Erna Lauenburger.

On the occasion of the “Romnja* Power Month”, the “Day of Provenance Research”, and the expansion of our exhibition, we warmly invite you to the opening of the exhibition area with a musical reading!

Programme:

Margitta Steinbach, Ulrich Baumann, Deputy Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and Brenda Spiesbach, Curator at BERLIN GLOBAL, will provide a brief insight into the collaborative process of expanding the exhibition.
With a musical reading, Manolito Steinbach, the nephew of Erna Lauenburger, and the Romani Weiss Swingtett will set the life and persecution story of the Sintiza to music.
Following this, journalist Gilda-Nancy Horvath will speak with Margitta and Manolito Steinbach about the importance of familial remembrance and public recognition of the murdered.

Moderation: Gilda-Nancy Horvath
Speakers: Margitta Steinbach, Manolito Steinbach, Ulrich Baumann, Brenda Spiesbach
Music & Reading: Manolito Steinbach and the Romani Weiss Swingtett

Please note

The event is held in German. Please book a free ticket in advance.

Participants

Margitta Steinbach is one of the founders of the association Menda Yek e.V. and a project staff member at AMCHA Germany e.V.
Since 2021, Steinbach has been overseeing the area of “Sinti People and Transgenerational Trauma” as a project staff member at AMCHA Germany e.V.
Margitta Steinbach belongs to the Sinti community and is the grandchild of survivors of the Berlin-Marzahn and Magdeburg Holzweg forced labour camps. In 2022, Steinbach, along with other descendants of the two forced labour camps, founded the association Menda Yek e.V. (“One of Us”). The association deals with the psychosocial consequences of the Holocaust for Sinti People, focusing on unresolved trauma. A key aspect of their work is ensuring that the relatives of affected families are actively involved in all processes of commemorative work, following the motto: “Nothing about us, without us.”

Manolito Steinbach is a guitarist and cultural ambassador. As a member of a Sinti musician family in Berlin, Manolito Steinbach was introduced to music at an early age, with his cousin, the German Sinti musician Häns’che Weiss, having a significant influence on him. Manolito Steinbach has showcased his music at major festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Django Festival Augsburg. Additionally, he was an award winner at the Pinneberger Summer Jazz Festival in 2010.
Beyond his musical activities, Manolito Steinbach is politically active in advocating for the rights of Sinti and Roma. He uses his platform to share his personal story as a Sinto in Germany and actively promotes cultural exchange.

Dr. Ulrich Baumann has been the Deputy Director of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe since 2008, and has been a staff member since 2002. In 1998, he completed his dissertation on the history of former Jewish rural communities in Baden. From 1999 to 2002, he worked for the Claims Conference documenting the assets of Jewish merchants in Berlin. At the same time, he was involved in educational projects for the Shoah Foundation and the Jewish Museum Berlin. Over the past years, Ulrich Baumann has conceptualized or advised on a number of exhibitions for the Foundation about victims of Nazi persecution (Holocaust, murder of the Sinti and Roma, patient murders, terror justice of the German military courts, persecution of people whom the Nazis interned in concentration camps as “asocials” and “career criminals”). Additionally, he researches the history of non-Jewish and Jewish women entrepreneurs and businesswomen in Berlin from 1900 to 1961.

The Romani Weiss Swingtett, consisting of Romani Weiss (guitar), Hannah Bienert (violin), Manolito Steinbach (guitar), and André Loos (bass), blends classic Jazz Manouche à la Django Reinhardt with influences from the legendary Great American Songbook and contemporary jazz.

Gilda-Nancy Horvath is an Austrian journalist. In 2025, she will be a guest lecturer at KSH Munich on the topic of “Social Innovation & Disruptive Leadership.” In 2024, she won the Council of Europe’s Award for Journalistic Excellence in Ethical Reporting for her portrait series “Glaso” (Voice) about personalities from the Roma community at Deutsche Welle Europe. Since 2019, she has been an elected member of ERIAC (European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture), the largest umbrella organization of Roma and Sinti cultural organizations worldwide. The journalist (ORF, DW Europe) also works as a communications consultant for governments and politicians, as well as leaders in the NGO/NPO sector. She writes plays, texts, and rap lyrics under her alter ego “Nancy Black” in German, English, and Romanes.

Never again War?

Series of Events commemorating 80 years since the End of the Second World War at BERLIN GLOBAL

5 March: Performance by Masha Pryven: “Where is the War?”

9 April: “Unku – a Berlin Sinti woman. An Evening Dedicated to Erna Lauenburger. Musical Reading and Discussion”

7 May: The final event “Visible/Invisible! 80 years since the End of the Second World War. Perspectives on Remembrance at BERLIN GLOBAL” will feature readings, lectures, and films showcasing the diverse approaches to remembering and forgetting. Information and tickets available on this website one month before the event.

Find out more

War

A huge, splintered, rust-coloured sculpture dominates the war-themed space in the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition. Thick black lines stretch out from it like cracks across the floor. Like a huge wedge, this foreign body seems to break into the ground, evoking the destructive power of bombs and grenades. But it can also be understood as a symbol of the scattering of people and things through war and flight.
Article, 3 min Lesezeit

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Opening Hours

Mo + Wed – Sun | 10.30 am – 6.30 pm
Tue | closed

Last admission is at 5.30 pm

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Schlossplatz
10178 Berlin

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For ticketing and service requests, please contact the Humboldt Forum Visitor Services:
+49 30 9921 189 89
Mo – Fri, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.

Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman

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Never again War?

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War

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Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman

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Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman

Programme:

Please note

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Never again War?

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War

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Directions

Contact

Dates

Unku – A Berlin Sinti woman

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